NEW YORK (CBS NEWS) – Graphic warning labels on cigarette packs are used throughout the world to deter people from smoking by using stark images of blackened lungs or diseased individuals along with warnings of tobacco’s health effects. A new study finds that the labels actually work, and are more effective at teaching smokers the health risks from cigarette smoking than traditional warnings.

Previous studies on the effectiveness of graphic tobacco warning labels in Europe and Canada have found people may be more likely to feel a negative response or more likely to report an intention to quit smoking, but according to the authors behind the new research, the smokers in those large population-based studies could have been influenced by other anti-smoking campaigns or tax increases.